Old Quilts For My Birthday 1

 I had such a blessed birthday this year. Lots of lovely phone calls from family and friends, with hilarious renditions of the Happy Birthday song. Much laughter and fun was had, with mirth filled trips down memory lane. Before all of the fun phone calls however, my hubby had taken me to town and dropped me off at a few antique stores, while he went to the hardware store. I didn't expect to find much, but I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to come across two wonderful old quilts, which I can't wait to share here. So I will stop babbling and get on with it.

First of all I wanted to share these two family pictures, taken at my paternal grandma's house. Have you ever looked at old family pictures and just noticed only the people in it?! I must admit that's what I've done for years, until a birthday chat with my mother made me go back and look again. Sometimes things are staring you in the face and you just don't see it. My mother told me that my paternal grandma made quilts. This was news to me, because I never in my childhood saw my paternal grandmother doing any sewing, let alone quilts. She told me that Grandma Lillie made a quilt of denim from my grandpa's old work clothes, and that some quilts were made from old shirts and shirting, and some from colorful feed sacks, and aprons and old clothes she had, that were worn out. But after my grandpa died suddenly in 1959, of a heart attack, my grandma never sewed, or made quilts again. This was all new information to me, so I went to look at what few pictures I had, to see if I could find any proof that grandma had quilts.

In this first picture the people are, from left to right: Alta Mae Randolph-Ratliff, (sister in-law to the next person, my grandma's eldest sister), Rosa Juanitta Thompson-Ratliff. Next to Rosa is sister Daisy Ruth Thompson-Kimball, next to her is Violet Darlene Thompson-Furnish, and last is my grandma, Lillie Mary Thompson-Robison. Now if you look closely the ladies are sitting on a quilt. A flame red quilt with a boarder of large flying mallard ducks. I have no memory of this quilt, and have no idea of its age or anything?! You can understand my surprise at seeing it, because my memory of blankets at grandma's were dark itchy wool army blankets, not brightly colored quilts.

This second picture was taken in Mar of 1981, by myself, on a visit my hubby and I took to see my grandma. Once again you can see the same couch as in the last picture, but this time it is made up with the blanket and quilts we slept under that night. My hubby, Gregg is on the left, and ex-in-law Jim is on the right. They are trying to identify grandma's old guns for her. As you can see, the top blanket on the couch is that old wool army blanket I remembered, but under that are two old quilts. The first in a bow tie patterned quilt, the second I determined is most likely a, "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul", patterned quilt, also known as an, "Orange Peel", pattern. It was very hard to discern, as so little of it is sticking out, but with the use of a magnifying glass, I think I succeeded in finding its pattern.

This of course does not prove my grandma made these quilts, but it does show proof that she had quilts, which is something I had not even thought of before. Grandma always talked a lot about her growing up days, but very little about my grandfather or their life together, as well as her children or the things she did. She never mentioned these quilts or anything about them, but she may not have ascribed any great thought to them, because to her they were just blankets. If I had thought to ask, I have no doubt she could have told me their story. Oh the opportunities we miss. Here was an aspect of my grandma's life I had never even considered. Did she make any of these quilts? Sadly, we may now never know.